At 9:13 p.m. on Sunday night John Mellencamp made the following announcement from the Stranahan Theater stage: “Y’know what? Show’s over.” The 72-year old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer then stormed off the stage, leaving behind a confused and perturbed audience.
It turns out, Mellencamp was only kidding or someone gave him a pep talk backstage because he returned and finished the show as scheduled. But it was obvious he wasn’t happy about it.
While speaking to the audience in between songs, a series of hecklers shouted things to the singer, which led to Mellencamp saying one audience member “should go back to kindergarten,” while calling another heckler an expletive. When someone else shouted out “Play ‘The Authority Song’,” Mellencamp had had enough and left the stage.
The incident marred what should have been an emotionally rich and thought provoking evening of entertainment and musical populism.
The show began with a series of clips from old movies depicting working class characters. There was a clip of the courtroom scene in the old Marlon Brando film The Fugitive Kind. A scene from the Marilyn Monroe vehicle The Misfits, as well as clips from Giant, Grapes of Wrath, Hud, and A Streetcar Named Desire. The scenes set the perfect mood for a John Mellencamp concert, showing the struggles of blue collar working Americans, which has always been the lifeblood of the singer’s musical career.
The show started out with “John Cockers” from Mellencamp’s Life, Death, Love, and Freedom album, which led to the singer asking the crowd “You got someone to lean on?”
“Paper In Fire,” one of Mellencamp’s big hits from The Lonesome Jubilee followed, with the great Lisa Germano on violin.
After a rousing performance of “Small Town,” Mellencamp addressed the crowd humbly.
“Thank you very much. I’m John Mellencamp. We’re going to be doing some songs you know, some songs you don’t know, some songs you can sing along with, and some songs you can dance to,” he said, before launching into “Human Wheels.”
Mellencamp introduced the hard hitting song “The Eyes of Portland” by telling a story about a homeless young woman he met in Portland, Oregon a few years ago. Though one of Mellencamp’s newest songs (it’s taken from his most recent album Orpheus Descending), it’s destined to become part of the classic Mellencamp canon thanks to its biting lyrics about homelessness in America and the lack of action in doing something about the social problem.
“Your tears and prayers will not help the homeless,” sang Mellencamp, practically spitting the lyrics.
The heckling incident then occurred as Mellencamp attempted to sing “Longest Days.”
After about five minutes of the audience wondering if they should stay or go following the heckling, Mellencamp’s band reemerged from the darkness of the backstage area to perform a recorded spoken word version of “The Real Life,” a track from 1987’s The Lonesome Jubilee.
Mellencamp resumed the concert with “Rain On the Scarecrow,” “Lonely Ol’ Night,” and a spirited rendition of “Pink Houses” that had the audience singing along and clapping, showing the performer that there was no hard feelings over his earlier outburst.
Overall, John Mellencamp’s return to Toledo was a mostly joyous experience, despite the presence of a few rude Toledoans who need to learn proper etiquette about behaving in public.
First Published March 18, 2024, 3:39 a.m.
